The media dialogue on global warming is infected with conservative misinformation. While consensus in the scientific community exists on the issue, too often pundits and journalists advance false, misleading, and baseless claims about the looming environmental crisis. Among the common conservative myths and falsehoods advanced in the media about global warming are unsubstantiated claims that human activity is not a substantial cause of global warming; Antarctic ice is increasing, not decreasing; former Vice President Al Gore is exaggerating; and carbon dioxide is not bad for the environment. Worse yet, over the past few years, coverage on the global warming issue has regularly:

Presented global warming skeptics without noting their relationships with the oil, gas, and coal industries.

Given global warming skeptics the same prominence as those within the large scientific consensus on the issue, thus elevating their opinions to a position nearly equal to those among the vast majority of experts.

Cited cold regional weather as evidence that global warming does not exist.

In an effort to stem the tide of conservative misinformation in global warming media coverage, Media Matters for America has embarked on a campaign to educate and inform members of the media and the American people with the facts. In the coming weeks and months, Media Matters will continue to monitor print, radio, broadcast, and Internet media and debunk these and other false global warming claims, so be sure to check back often and sign up for email updates and action alerts. To view our extensive "Myths and falsehoods about global warming," be sure to click here .

Now, let me give you my version:

The media dialogue on global warming is infected with liberal misinformation. While absolutely no consensus in the scientific community exists on the issue, too often pundits and journalists advance false, misleading, and baseless claims about the looming environmental crisis. Among the common alarmist myths and falsehoods advanced in the media about global warming are unsubstantiated claims that human activity is a substantial cause of global warming; Antarctic ice is decreasing, not increasing; former Vice President Al Gore is an expert on climate change; and carbon dioxide is bad for the environment. Worse yet, over the past few years, coverage on the global warming issue has regularly:

Attempted to discredit global warming skeptics by citing their relationships with the oil, gas, and coal industries, when in fact, many more billions of dollars are given to the alarmist scientist in the form of government grants.

Given global warming alarmists a larger prominence in the media, so as to convince the public that a consensus exists within the scientific community, in an attempt to minimize skeptics as being outside mainstream scientific conclusions.

In an effort to stem the tide of any opposing information in global warming media coverage, Media Matters for America has embarked on a campaign to misinform members of the media and the American people by presenting only the facts that support the opinion that "man is destroying the planet." In the coming weeks and months, Media Matters will continue to monitor print, radio, broadcast, and Internet media so that we can exaggerate and distort the facts as we see fit. So be sure to check back often and sign up for email updates and action alerts. To view our extensive "Myths and falsehoods about global warming," be sure to click here .

Well one thing is for sure, they got the title right.

Jon

Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 01:33 PM

It seems we need a media watchdog to watch the media watchdogs that watch the media.